A conventional transport unit has been known that conveys a first transportation object onto a second transportation object and joins the first transportation object to the second transportation object. Patent Literature 1 discloses such a transport unit that includes a rotatable rotating drum having a suction part that holds an absorbent body by suction, which is the first transportation object, and a cylindrical roller mechanism that rotates while sandwiching the absorbent body and a web, which is the second transportation object, between the rotating drum and the cylindrical roller mechanism to join the absorbent body to the web. The rotating drum disclosed in Patent Literature 1 makes the suction part receive the absorbent body at a receiving point and then rotate to a transfer point to transfer the absorbent body onto the web at the transfer point. The suction part turns 90 degrees about a radial direction of the rotating drum while being moved from the receiving point to the transfer point, and the suction part transfers the absorbent body onto the web in a state where the absorbent body is turned 90 degrees from the orientation of the absorbent body on the suction part at the receiving point.
The outer surface of the suction part disclosed in Patent Literature 1 has, for example, sloped surfaces to receive the absorbent body smoothly at the receiving point. When the suction part is at the receiving point, the sloped surfaces are sloped radially inward toward both ends in the rotating direction of the rotating drum. As the suction part turns 90 degrees while being moved from the receiving point to the transfer point, the sloped surfaces of the outer surface of the suction part at the transfer point are sloped radially inward toward both ends in the rotational axis direction of the rotating drum.
The rotating drum disclosed in Patent Literature 1 is configured such that the sloped surfaces of the outer surface of the suction part at the transfer point are sloped radially inward toward both the ends in the rotational axis direction, which generates differences in circumferential speed on the sloped surfaces. The absorbent body disposed on the sloped surfaces is sandwiched between the sloped surfaces of the outer surface of the suction part and the outer surface of the cylindrical roller mechanism to be joined to the web. The circumferential speed on the sloped surfaces of the outer surface of the suction part varies in the rotational axis direction of the rotating drum, whereas the circumferential speed on the outer surface of the roller mechanism has no variation in the rotational axis direction of the roller mechanism. Thus, the absorbent body, which is the first transportation object, and the web, which is the second transportation object, might be joined with crinkles formed on the absorbent body or the web.